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 |  Mount EerieNo Flashlight Art School Dropout/Reverberation 'No Flashlight' is Phil Elverum's umpteenth recording and surprisingly his first with an Australian release. Where his songs of old were often so sprawling with grubby-handed energy and fuzz here an older, wiser Elverum is left more and more with his lost boyish voice and quieter arrangements and concentric rings of dense detailed percussion. Elverum is notorious for his lyrical improvisation, which means that occasionally you'll hear similar lyrics pop up in different songs. The miniature 'No Flashlight: Songs Of The Fulfilled Night' words booklet is a valuable feature. While the lyrics are not as poetic as his friend Kyle Field's (aka Little Wings) it is Elverum's naked delivery that makes his very simple thematic clusters of words ring with profundity. In addition to the 15 album tracks are four tracks exclusive to the Australian release. This is a mid-fi contemplative collection dominated by attention-grabbing drum sounds. Ranging from campfire cozy to tropical and tribal to far-out freeform rock, the percussive bed pushes the songs past standard indie into sometimes golden uncharted territory, with Elverum's almost uncomfortably intimate voice and rudimentary guitar strum sitting atop. They're songs of nature, wonderment and (mis)understanding sung by a man who might one day leave the world of people for a life halfway up a green mountain.  | |
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